Zach Parise skated hard as part of a new line at Wild practice Wednesday. During full-contact drills, he battled and bumped. When the team practiced the power play, he took his place with the first unit.

All of this leads to the conclusion that Parise — out the past 14 games because of a fractured foot — is set to return Thursday against Chicago at Xcel Energy Center, right?

Just not officially.

Whether being cautious or coy, Parise estimated his chances of returning Thursday at “50-50.’’ Wild coach Mike Yeo was similarly noncommittal. “It’s how he feels,” Yeo said. “Conditioning is going to be something we have to see where we feel that’s at. Also the battle, the pain, is there anything there? If he feels good to go, then obviously he’s in.”

Wade through that and you get the feeling Parise’s return is far more likely than 50-50.

Parise has two full practices with the team under his belt, and it figures the Wild would like to have him in the lineup for a home game against the high-powered Blackhawks. Add in the fact that the Wild embarks on a difficult road swing to San Jose, Anaheim, Colorado and Calgary, and Parise’s return Thursday seems likely.

That is likely why Yeo had shuffled his lines at Wednesday’s practice, changes that showed Yeo and his staff had giving them a lot of thought.

Parise worked on a line with center Charlie Coyle and winger Nino Niederreiter. Mikael Granlund centered Dany Heatley and Jason Pominville. Kyle Brodziak was between Matt Cooke and Justin Fontaine, and Eric Haula centered Jason Zucker and either Stephane Veilleux or Torrey Mitchell.

These lines were a mild surprise. With Mikko Koivu out after ankle surgery, some thought the Wild would take a look at Granlund and Parise together. Instead, Yeo put Parise with Coyle, which also broke up the line of Coyle-Zucker-Heatley that had been productive of late.